The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 2062 - 2037: Debate

The Crown Prince nodded, turned around to leave, but then thought of something and asked, "What rank is Bai Shan now?"

The examiners exchanged glances and replied, "Your Highness, the policy questions have not been reviewed yet, so there is no ranking."

"Bring out his papers," the Crown Prince paused and frowned, "Also, bring out Bai Cheng’s."

So everyone had to start looking for both of their papers. Fortunately, they did not anonymize the names during the exam, and both of Bai Shan’s papers were temporarily graded as excellent, so they were quite easy to find.

However, Bai Cheng’s took some time to locate.

The Crown Prince glanced over Bai Shan’s classics exam, felt a bit dizzy, and straightforwardly handed the paper to Libationer Kong, "How does the teacher think he answered?"

Libationer Kong had already seen it before, and after giving it another look, he stroked his beard in approval and said, "Not bad, just lacking a bit in the policy question, but he should be able to make it into the top ten."

Someone expressed disagreement, "He is ranked eighteenth on the comprehensive list, master, the slots for the top four below the zhuangyuan have already been decided."

Libationer Kong remembered this matter and frowned, "The comprehensive list is just a general reference, the essays should be the focus."

"The essays are indeed the focus, we have all read their presented writings before, and didn’t we all agree then? This imperial exam is just a single paper, to judge solely based on it seems biased; comparatively, the presented writings better showcase their talent."

The Crown Prince asked, "Doesn’t Bai Shan have a presented writing?"

"He does," said Libationer Kong, "and everyone based the comprehensive list on their presented writings."

What is this comprehensive list?

It’s a list compiled by the examiners, assessing the candidates’ talents and reputations in society before the exam, and considering the quality of the presented writings they submitted. This list is called the comprehensive list.

After grading the jinshi exam papers, the examiners would use the comprehensive list to decide rankings. Some candidates even had their spots predetermined before the exams began.

Therefore, some examinees would spend vast sums to boost their reputations, spending tens of thousands of coins was not uncommon.

The Crown Prince requested to see the policy questions of the top ten on the comprehensive list.

After reviewing, he picked out two and tossed them aside, saying with a stern face, "I won’t comment on the others, but these two are unqualified for their positions."

The examiners checked those two papers, and a professor from the Highest Institute, who strongly recommended one of the candidates, said, "Your Highness, perhaps you could consider his presented writing, he is quite talented, writing poems and essays with eloquence like flowing water..."

The Crown Prince glanced at him and said, "I only know that this essay is not even as good as Bai Cheng’s. This is the jinshi exam, if we base everything only on presented writings, then why even have an exam? Just use the comprehensive list to decide rankings."

He sneered, "We all know how much water is in the comprehensive list, let’s not pretend otherwise. The jinshi exam is for selecting talent, I am looking for wise and knowledgeable individuals, not just wealthy and renowned scholars."

Libationer Kong did not express opposition, and though others disagreed internally, they had no choice but to stifle it.

After chastising them, the Crown Prince turned and left, with Libationer Kong smiling as he comforted the examiners and then followed him out.

The Crown Prince waited outside the courtyard of the Ministry of Rites.

Libationer Kong stepped forward, saluted, and sighed, "Your Highness, if you wish to select more scholars from humble backgrounds, then the comprehensive list must be abolished, and the papers anonymized for fairness."

The Crown Prince frowned, "I’ve mentioned it to His Majesty, but he said it took the late emperor five years to establish the regular exam system, with interruptions for several years. In recent years, families frequently petition His Majesty to open imperial examinations, and they all present talents for evaluation in the capital. If we abolish the comprehensive list and anonymize the papers here, it might cause more turmoil."

The Crown Prince himself wasn’t afraid of turmoil, but he thought that his father might not like it at this time. The emperor had become increasingly stable in seeking peace, unwilling to stir up more disputes.

Libationer Kong apparently understood this, he glanced at the Crown Prince, nodded slightly, seemingly convinced.

Whether the emperor sought stability or not was unknown to him, but he knew, the emperor clearly wanted to leave this matter to the Crown Prince, so he could later establish his authority.

However, the emperor appeared to be in his prime, and the Crown Prince did not know when he could use this matter to establish authority.

After sending the Crown Prince off, Libationer Kong returned to continue grading papers.

An examiner brought a paper, inquiring, "Master, this paper..."

Libationer Kong coolly replied, "The comprehensive list is just a reference, focus should be on this current exam paper."

"But..."

Before he could finish, Libationer Kong grabbed two papers from the side and placed them on the top grade pile, saying, "These two papers are also good, let’s determine their grades later."

Everyone looked at the authors’ backgrounds and names on the papers, realizing they hadn’t heard of them; they pondered for a while but couldn’t remember who these individuals were.

They had no choice but to pick up the papers to read, hmm, these papers seemed familiar, the poetry might be weaker, but the classics and policy questions were quite decent, yet the names were obscure, and they were unsure of who they were.

The main issue was the uncertainty about their character and reputation.

Though they wanted to oppose, Libationer Kong already said, "In recent years, most slots for jinshi were filled from the comprehensive list, and it was almost entirely composed of students, with no provincial recommendations making it in. Over time, the scholars from the populace might become dissatisfied."

A doctor from the Imperial Academy countered, "After all, scholars from the populace are in the minority; all the scholars of the right age would take exams for the County School, Prefectural School, and Imperial Academy, so there are still more students."

Libationer Kong shook his head slightly, "Why not eat minced meat porridge? Who knows how many students wish to learn but cannot afford official schools. We cannot be prejudiced because they are not students."

"Official schools can offer some fee reductions, private schooling is even costlier, those who can afford private schooling, how could they not be able to go to official schools?"

"There are still those tutored privately by their fathers and brothers," said Libationer Kong, "Doctor Yan should travel more to different places. Since there’s a jinshi exam, evaluation should be based on the exam papers, evaluated purely on content, are these two papers not good?"

So, everyone began debating the quality of the essays.

Finding flaws in an essay was not hard at all; inherently, there’s no definitive ranking in literature, and if someone wanted to be picky, there were plenty of methods.

They debated well into the night, reluctantly agreeing that the two papers should be first placed in the top-grade pile.

It took them five days to finish marking the papers. During these five days, they also argued persistently, but fortunately, Libationer Kong was very respected and could keep people in line, allowing marking to proceed uninterrupted.

This year, the predetermined number of selected jinshi was thirty-two, so clearly subpar papers were tossed to the bamboo basket on the side, with only a few able to stay on the table.

Papers on the table were also divided into two kinds; on the left were those determined to be excellent and worth selecting, while those on the right were pending further decision.

The pending ones were either papers with merit or those from well-known candidates, potentially listed on the comprehensive list, whose reputations and presented writings were commendable.

They ultimately selected thirty-two from over sixty papers for final evaluation.

After a day of debate, they finally settled on thirty-six papers, with Libationer Kong delivering the slots and papers to the palace for the emperor to select.